I’m trying to unload my whole TV, streaming and Bluray set-up — a 65″ 4K UHD Sony TV with internal side speakers (SONY XBR-65X930C — 6 years old but in excellent shape) + Sony 4K Bluray player (18 months old) + Oppo Bluray set for Region 2 Blurays + Marantz AVR (audio-visual receiver) + Sony wireless earphones + external bass woofer speaker + wooden stand-console that holds all these devices as a single unit…the whole kit & kaboodle for only $1200.

And nobody wants it. Because nobody wants a 2016 TV, and nobody cares about Region 1 and 2 Bluray players, much less a Marantz AVR. The wireless headphone set-up might be of faint interest, but I’m insisting on selling everything as a big bundle. I would probably have trouble selling the TV if it was three or four years old. Everyone wants something brand-spanking new, of course.

It’s a first-rate living room set-up, but I guess it stays here.

A director friend passed this along last night. A plea for work from Roman Perfilyev, a married Ukrainian film director and motion designer from Kyiv and a refugee from the current horror. As I know and trust the director, I’m presuming the contents of the letter are legit.

“I’m currently in the U.S. fleeing from the war with my wife and three-year-old old son. I’m looking for the opportunity to work in the US film industry so I’ve attached my resume and links to this email which represents my experience.

My IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9539414/

The Inglorious Serfs — Full-length movie; 2021 (director, scriptwriter)
Trailer — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yULObtOYKxI&t=2s
Full movie – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u63-7BxZYSs (English subtitles are available)

Showreel (commercial 2022) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dUKjjTVfe8 (client: Artgrid.io)

33 — Full-length movie (TBS); 2022 (director)
Teaser – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtnZ5YnQIhA

I also know how to make films based on a micro-budget.

Remember that scene in Se7en when Brad Pitt‘s character pronounces “Marquis de Sade” as “Markee duh shah-DAY” — an allusion to the pronunciation of Sade, the pop singer who peaked in the ’80s and ’90s? Morgan Freeman tells him the correct pronunciation and Pitt goes “whatever.”

The same thing happens in this amateurish fan video about ’50s teen idol Bobby Rydell, who passed today at age 79.

Toward the end (around the 6:24 mark) the under-educated narrator talks about Rydell “for over 30 years” having performed “over 700 shows” of The Golden Boys with costars Fabian and Frankie Avalon. Except the narrator pronounces Fabian like Fabio — “FAH-bee-AHN.” The name is correctly pronounced “FAY-bee-uhn.”

Every so often I’ll do a film-review search on the N.Y. Times archive, which links to The Times Machine, which offers digital replicas of the all the Times issues from 1851 to 2002. Every damn time I get distracted by the movie ads placed alongside the review, and before you know it I’m lost in this or that time tunnel.

I’ve noted several stellar years for film releases (1939, 1962, 1971, 1999, 2007) in the past, but which year in the 1950s would qualify along similar lines? I’m not saying that 1954 is on the same level, but it might represent the best of that decade.

Alas, Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale isn’t ready to be screened at next month’s Cannes Film Festival. That aside, here’s the latest Cannes rundown from World of Reel’s Jordan Ruimy. Disappointment Blvd. may be on the squishy side, but otherwise we’re looking at a likelihood factor between 90% and 95%.

The French trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis (Warner Bros., 6.24), now officially confirmed as a Cannes Film Festival attraction, offers nary a sliver of a glimpse of Austin Butler in a fat suit. I am therefore presuming that we can all relax in this regard. No decline years (‘75 to August ‘77), no keeling over on the toilet. Or so it seems.

My old Wilson baseball glove means almost as much to me as my two Mac laptops (15″ Macbook Pro, 13″ Macbook Air). There’s something eternal and devotional about slightly worn baseball mitts. I’ll be driving the VW Passat back east before leaving for Cannes, and I’ll be bringing the Wilson along with a TPS first baseman’s mitt that Jett used in the old days.